New Zealand's Black Foils are back on the water this weekend, aiming for a third consecutive win at the Emirates Great Britain Sail Grand Prix in Portsmouth.
The team has won the last two editions of this event, at Plymouth in 2022 and Portsmouth last year, and returns as defending champion. A collision at the New Zealand Sail Grand Prix in Auckland in February destroyed their F50 and ruled the team out of four events. They returned in June at the Canada Sail Grand Prix in Halifax with a new boat, finishing a single point off the event final across two podium races.
That enforced break has left the Black Foils 12th of 13 in the overall standings. Co-CEO and driver Peter Burling said, "It's awesome to be back out on the racetrack. We've got some fond memories of Portsmouth from last year, taking a really good win here, and just down the coast was the team's first win a few years back too. We've had a really good track record here in the UK."
With a record 13 teams now in the championship, SailGP has split the fleet into two groups, a structure now confirmed for the remainder of the 2026 season. The Black Foils have been drawn alongside Australia's BONDS Flying Roos, the current championship leaders, along with Spain's Los Gallos, NorthStar Canada, Red Bull Italy, ROCKWOOL Denmark and Mubadala Brazil. Emirates Great Britain sits in the other group.
"We've ended up with the two top-ranked teams in the league on our side of the draw, so we're definitely on the hardest side. But that just creates excitement for us," Burling said. "We know we've got to go out there and perform well to get through to the final, and that's exactly what we're trying to do."
Burling said, "It's hard to say exactly where we're at. There are still little details where we're catching up, and parts where the fleet's moved forward while we were out. But we're really looking forward to a nice breeze and conditions where we can show what we can do."
More than 20,000 fans attended Portsmouth's waterfront last year, with a similar turnout expected this weekend. "It's always awesome to see how many Kiwis get down to the south coast to cheer us on. It means the world to us as a team," Burling said. "It's awesome racing in front of such a big grandstand."
The lead-up to racing included a royal visit on Friday, when Her Royal Highness The Princess Royal, in her role as President of the Royal Yachting Association, toured SailGP Technologies in Southampton. She met athletes from across the fleet, including Burling, and viewed the championship's F50 and wing technology. "It was really interesting to talk to The Princess Royal. She's really engaged in what we do and she's been to a lot of events in her time," Burling said. "It was cool to see how much she's behind this event."
Earlier in the week, the Black Foils were named winners of the Better Planet award in SailGP's global Impact League, recognising the team's role in a New Zealand campaign against bottom trawling and Jono Ridler's record-breaking Swim4TheOcean.
Racing at the Emirates Great Britain Sail Grand Prix runs Saturday 25 and Sunday 26 July, from 3.30am New Zealand time on the Sunday and Monday.
The team here at Go Boating are pleased to provide live coverage of SailGP, read our reports as the race is run, or wake up in the morning and read the full coverage of all races and the day: https://goboating.nz/categories/sailgp-2026
